Antiglare device



R. W. LEWIS AND S. McDON'ALD.

ANTIGLARE DEVICE.

APPLICATON FILED FEB. 4, 1921.

1,43 5,@31 4. Patented. Nov. 7, 1922.

flvvvenio/z Patented Nov. 7,v l922.,

A `retenir 'rant' eine@ RICHARD W. LEWIS AND SYLVESTER MCDONALD, F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ANTIGLAEE DEVICE.

VApplication led February a, v1921. Serial No. 442,356.

To all whom #may cmwem:

Be'it known that we, (l) RICHARD W; LEWIS and (2)l SYLVESTER MCDONALD, (1) a citizen of the United 'States of America,

5 (2) a subject of the King-of England, re-

siding at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Antiglare Devices, of which the Jfollowing is a 1o speciication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an anti-glare at-y tachment for lamps, lanterns and headlights, particularly the latter when used in connection with automobiles and similar vehicles.

.Our invention aims to provide a headlight attachment or anti-glare device which will cause rays of light emitted by a headlight to be cast towards the ground, in front of an automobile, thus eliminating a straight aheadv glare which` has been the cause of many accidents, particularly by pedestrians being temporarily blinded and lbewildered to such an extent as to be run down by the automobilead injured. lt is yin this connectionl that our attachment or anti-,glare device prevents the drivers of approachingcars or other. vehicles from being temporarily blinded and losing control oftheir cars; it being a well known fact that many collisions are caused by glaring headlights.

` Our invention further aims to provide a @headlight attachment or anti-glare device which may be advantageously used in connection with headlights equipped with dimmers or auxiliaryA lamps, as provision is madein connectibn withthe attachment or device so that the dimmers may be used in the usual manner without any interference by the main lamps of the'headlights.'

Our invention is further'characterized by an attachment or anti-glare device that is applicable to` various types of automobile F headlights v.ll-11d may be easily and quickly install'd V{v yitliout any ldanger of the-attachment becomingaccidentally displaced ordetractingg-from'the general appearance ofthe tion. will he hereinafter described and then claimed, and reference will now be had to the drawings` whereinl Y Figure '1 is a side elevation of a Convene tional form vof automobile headlight," partly .carrying automobile.

The" construction yentering into our invenv broken away and partly in longitudinal 'section;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, partly broken away;

Fig. 3r is a perspective view of our antiglare device;

Fig. 4 is a front elevationl of a modified form of device, and

Fig. 5 is a 'fragmentary perspective view of a portion of an anti-glare device, illustrating one way of attaching the device to a lens.

ln the drawing, the reference numeral 1 denotes 'afheadlight casing containing a reiiector 2, main lamp 3, a dimmer or auX- iliary lamp 4, and suitable electrical connections 5 for the lamps 4 and 3. In the front of the headlight casing 1 is a lens 6 retained inthe casing by a'rim member 7 and yieldable clamping devices 8, and the elements 1 to 8 inclusive represent a -conventional form of headlight in which our anti-glare device may be used. In this and other types of the headlights the ,reflector 2 causes rays of light emitted' rby the main lamp 3 to be cast straight ahead with such an intense glare that ypedestrians or the drivers 'of approaching automobiles are temporarily blinded or bewildered,- by such glare. When themain lamp 3 is not in use, the auxiliary or dimmer lamp t affords sufficient illumination todetect the headlight at a short distance and in providing our anti-glare device we have aimed to utilize the full intensity-` of the mainrlamp 3 and simply reflect light rays therefromin a direction other thanstraight ahead or in such directions as not to interfere with pedestrians or others in the path of the headlight Our` anti-glarel device, in its preferred form, as shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3 comprises a semi-circular flat plate 9 made of any sult- -able material, preferably metal, and this plate is adapted to tit against the inner wall 1100 of the lens 6 at the upper` portion thereof, so that the Igreater partv of the upper portlon of the lens 6 will be rendered opaque compared to the lower transparent exposed portion 'of thelens. The plate 9 has its upper 105 portion prf'rvided` with a series of apertures A10 which may be disposed in suitable groups and these apertures permit of rays' of 11g t from the auxiliary lamp or dimmer 4: passing throughl the plate Salud the 1ens j Gj sc that M@ the dimmer 4 may be utilized for the purposes intended. In some instances, however particularly where headlights are devoid of auxiliary lamps or dimmers, the apertures 10 may be dispensed with. Then aga1n', the apertures may be used to simply provide a dull light at the upper portion of the lens 6 as will hereinafter appear.

The rear wall of the plate 9, contiguous to its straight edge, has a rearwardly extending curved or arch shaped shield or reflector 11 which may be soldered, spot welded or otherwise connected to the plate 9 to remain rigid relative thereto, and as shown in F ig. 1, the shield 1 1 extends into a plane above the main lamp 3 and intersects the rays of light cast upwardly from said `lamp. The shield or reflector 11 will cause the rays of light emitted by the greater part of the main lamp 3 to be reflected downwardly through the lower transparent portion of the lens 6, although some of the rays of light emitted by the 11p-per side of the main lamp 3 will be utilized by the reflector 2 above the shield or reflector 11, especially when the headlight isA devoid of the auxiliary lamp or dimmer 4:.

Considering the manner of mounting the\ plate 9 against the inner wall ofthe lens 6, the means employed for holding the plate. depends entirely upon the type of lamp in which it is installed.. In some lamps the plate 9 may have the curved edges thereof provided with notches 12 or lugs 13' to interlock with or engage a portion of the headlight casing 1 or the reflector 2. Then again,l the plate 9 may have lugs 14 of suf-` fcient length to be bent over the edges of a lens 15,' as shown in Fig. 5, whereby the plate 95will be supported from the upper portion of the lens. One or more of these hookshaped lugs may be employed to cori -rectly position the' plate 9. l

|In other types of headlights. the semicircular plate 9 may be slightl greater in area than that ofy a semi-circu ar plate, so that the straight edge of the plate will be in a. lane below the horizontal medial plane of t e headlight casing 1, and in consefquence of-jsuch shape the-side edges of the plate, adjacent the lower straight edge thereof, will support the plate within the casing and at the upper portion of the lens 6.

It is also possible to choose a disk or plate 16 that is circular with the upper portion thereof apertured, asin the preferred form of cpnstruction, andthe lower portion thereof provided with a semi-circular opening 17. The lower edges of the plate 16 will rest on the bottom of the headlight casing and firmly support the lplat/e in position.

As there are many ways of mounting an anti-glare device within a headlight casing, we do not care to confine ourselves to any specific fastening or holding means, other than that the device is retained against the inner wall of the lens 6, with the shield or reflector 11 projecting over the main lamp 3 -of the headlight.

It is thought that the utility of our antiglare device is apparent without further description, and while inthe drawings there are illustrated the preferred embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that the structural elements are susceptible to such changes in size, shape and manner of assemblage as fall within the scope of the ap ended claim.

hat we claim is The combination of a headlight casing having an open end, a reflector in said casing, a lens closing the open end of said casing, a main lamp axially of saidd'elector, an auxiliary lamp in said reflector and in aplane above said main lamp, a semi-circular perforated plate against the inner wall of said lens at the u per portionthereof,I and an arch shaped siiield solely supportedby said perforated plate adjacent the straight edge of said perforated plate and extending to a point in an imaginary line between said mainl and `auxiliary lamps so that rays of light from said main lamp may project -into the lupper part of said reilector.

In testimony whereof we aliix our signaturesin presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD W. LEWIS. SYLVESTER MoDONALD. Witnesses:

ANNA M. Donn, KARL H. BUTLER. 

